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During the Ice Age, this region was not covered by the Pleistocene ice sheets. However, it was much wetter and cooler. Due to the higher amounts of precipitation erosion was accelerated, removing most of the Bidahochi Formation. Wind and rain sculpted the colorful Chinle Formation, creating the rounded landscape of badlands. By Quanternary (recent) time, the river valleys of the Little Colorado and the Puerco were cut into the soft sedimentary rock of the Chinle Formation. (Over millions of years there have been several periods of erosion. Between the Chinle and Bidahochi Formations an uncomformity represents 170 million years of erosion. After the Bidahochi, much of the Formation was removed through the processes of weathering.) Today the activity continues, although the climate has become more arid, exposing the treasures within the layers of Petrified Forest |
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